Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) is firing back at House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for vowing to strip her of her committee assignment.
In a statement on Monday, Omar said, âFrom the moment I was elected, the Republican Party has made it their mission to use fear, xenophobia, Islamophobia and racism to target me on the House Floor and through millions of dollars of campaign ads.â
âWhether it is Marjorie Taylor Greene holding a gun next to my head in campaign ads or Donald Trump threatening to âsend me backâ to my country (despite the fact that I have been a proud citizen of the United States for more than 20 years), this constant stream of hate has led to hundreds of death threats and credible plots against me and my family,â she continued.
The Minnesota Congresswoman accused McCarthy of declining to âaddress the open hostility towards religious minorities in his partyâ and âlifting up people like Marjorie Taylor Greeneâ instead.
Read the statement below:
She added, âMcCarthyâs effort to repeatedly single me out for scorn and hatred â including threatening to strip me from my committee â does nothing to address the issues our constituents deal with. It does nothing to address inflation, healthcare, or solve the climate crisis.â
McCarthy appeared on Fox Business on Sunday and was asked if he would make good on his vow to strip several prominent Democrats of their committee assignments.
âYes, I will, Iâll keep that promise,â he responded. âOne thing I said from the very beginning, Eric Swalwell cannot get a security clearance in the public sector. Why would we ever give him a security clearance and the secrets to America? So I will not allow him to be on Intel.â
He continued:
âYou have Adam Schiff who has lied to the American public time and again. We will not allow him to be on Intel either. And Congresswoman Ilhan Omar her antisemitic comments that have gone forward, weâre not going to allow her to be on Foreign Affairs.â
Watch the video below:
McCarthyâs pledge to remove Omar as well as Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) from their committee assignments come after Republicans were projected to win control of the House.
But he may run into difficulties in trying to fulfill his promise involving Omar.
As Axios noted, McCarthy tweeted his vow involving Omar. But Twitter affixed an âadded contextâ label to the post which stated the House speaker âdoes not have the power to remove a member from a standing committee. Foreign Affairs is a standing committee.â
âOnly a majority vote by the entire House could remove Rep. Omar,â it added.
